Read Aloud Tips for Young Readers (and Their Parents)

Learning to read is hard work, but if one thing is certain, reading regularly at home with a parent or caregiver can make a huge difference in literacy skills and abilities for young children. A 2019 Ohio State University study even found that children who are read just one book a day hear about  290,000 more words by age 5 than their peers who do not read regularly with a parent or caregiver. Being read five books a day equals a whopping 1.4 million more words by age 5.*

In addition to reading lots of stories and books together, parents can use some simple strategies while reading to help grow their child's literacy skills. Check out some of our top reading tips & tricks below, and leave a comment with any additional ideas you have for supercharging reading time with your child.

Pointing to the words of a story as you read them, or asking your child to point to the words as they read, cues their brain in key ways to create and store information. In addition to experiencing audible cues by hearing your voice, they also experience visual cues by watching your finger tracking and matching the word you are pointing to with the word they hear you say out loud.

A fundamental part of learning to read is understanding what is going on in the story as a child reads it. One easy way to flex comprehension muscles is to ask questions on each page as you read with your child. Basic questions that start with why, who, what, where, and when will get your child's wheels turning and thinking about the characters, plot, setting, and more.

Research shows that reading is one of the best ways for children to learn new words and expand their vocabulary. Before you read a story with your child, pick out and discuss a few vocabulary words from the book. Ask your child if they know what the words mean and share their definitions and examples of them being used in a sentence. Then, as you are reading the story and come across the vocabulary word, point it out to your child (or even have them cross it off a written list!).

Sight words (or trick words) are those words that children have to learn by sight because they cannot be decoded with the basic rules of the English language. Sight word examples include "said," "about," and "friend." If you are covering sight words with your child, encourage them to practice learning them using the say-spell-say method: say the word, spell the word, and say it again. Bonus: Use a kinesthetic method of learning the word by having your child trace the letters of the word with colored pencils or markers on an index card as they spell it - see this tip in action here.

Developing a love of reading is rooted in the confidence and comfort that comes with regular practice. Adults often want to jump in to correct a child when they stumble on a word or pause because they do not know it. Giving that child an opportunity, however, to sound it out, decode the syllable types, or use context clues to figure it out does wonders for their reading abilities. You'd be surprised how often a child can self-correct when reading, and when they do, it gives them the sense of success and achievement that boosts their confidence and love of reading.

What other reading tips and tricks do you use to support your child's literacy? Leave a comment!

*https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/04/190404074947.htmSources: